As you prepare your Mt Joy landscaping for fall, the Root’s Nurseries team wants to help you maintain and protect the trees and shrubbery in your landscaping design. After all, you have invested a great deal of time into creating a landscaping design that shows off your location to its full potential. Because we know our region is well known for its harsh winter, fall preparation is a must.
However, your landscaping does not have to be a victim of Pennsylvania weather. There is an assortment of steps you can take to keep your landscaping safe so that it is beautiful when next spring comes around.
Better yet, these are precautions anyone can do – minimal knowledge and effort required!
Preparing Your Landscaping for Cold Weather Ahead
In order to avoid leaving your trees and shrubbery vulnerable to the weather ahead, spend a weekend preparing your landscaping by making time to be proactive. While there are many approaches to preparing your trees and shrubbery for the colder weather, these methods employ natural products and materials, so you don’t have to be concerned about causing additional damage to the environment or animals.
- Aerate – Consider renting an air spade to break up the soil around the base of the trees and shrubbery to prevent it from becoming compacted and stifling the roots. When the roots are stifled, the plants become more susceptible to disease and insects, plus they are weakened and water and nutrients cannot travel through the plant as easily.
- Don’t Fertilize! – If you use fertilizer, then be sure that your last use of it is done 6 weeks before the first frost.
- Water – Thoroughly water shrubbery and trees throughout the fall; ideally, the water needs to penetrate between 12 and 18 inches deep so that roots have plenty of moisture.
- Mulch – Make time this fall to protect the roots by adding a 4 to 6-inch layer of mulch at the base of the plants. This will prevent damage next spring when the soil begins to expand and contract during the thawing process.
- Burlap – For plants and trees that are near the road and at risk of salt run-off related damage, wrap the base of the plants in burlap to form a barrier.
- Rodent Protection – During the colder weather, rodents and other small animals will cause damage to trees or shrubbery. To protect your plants from being gnawed on or becoming a hiding spot, wrap the base with a ¼ inch mesh hardware cloth.
As you spend time protecting your Mt Joy landscaping, don’t forget to reach out to the team at Root’s Nurseries! We would love to help answer your questions and concerns regarding any products and tools you may be using. Give us a call at 717-898-0041 or Contact Us today.
